SPANISH DEPUTY DEFMIN ON UPCOMING PENTAGON VISIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000269 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2017 TAGS: PREL MARR SP SUBJECT: SPANISH DEPUTY DEFMIN ON UPCOMING PENTAGON VISIT Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. DCM met with Secretary of State for Defense Francisco Pardo on February 13 to review plans for Pardo's upcoming, defense-sales-focused trip to the US. DCM and Pardo briefly discussed bilateral defense sales, the GOS reaction to press coverage of US military flights stopping in Spain on the way to Guantanamo, and the continuing need for more NATO troops for Afghanistan. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) DCM expressed concern about recent newspaper headlines that implied US misuse of Spanish bases by US military flights to Guantanamo. He explained that US military flights passing though Spain en route to Guantanamo broke no Spanish laws. DCM said that the flights are routine and that the US always followed the procedures prescribed by the bilateral defense treaty. Pardo said that Defense Minister Alonso has been proactive in telling the press that no Spanish laws were broken, hoping to cut off further speculation on the issue. ¶3. (C) Pardo said that he expects his long-delayed trip to the US to be fruitful. In addition to meeting with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, Pardo will see Deputy Secretary of Defense England, DOD Undersecretary for Acquisitions, Technology, and Logistics Krieg, and Defense Security Cooperation Agency Deputy Director Millies on February 22. Pardo said that in his meeting with DSD England, he expects to talk about the NATO-ISAF mission in Afghanistan, the nearly resolved negotiation over NCIS/OSI activities in Spain, and the Guantanamo flights issue. He said that he will also brief DSD England on Spain's interest in maintaining US-Spain cooperation at the Rota and Moron bases. ¶4. (C) Pardo emphasized that he and Alonso continue to regard the US-Spain defense relationship as strong and collaborative, but said that they are concerned that there is an imbalance in bilateral defense trade. He pointed to Spanish purchases of US combat systems for its F-100 frigates and S-80 subs, which he said the GOS made over the protests of European allies like France and Germany. Pardo said that while MOD plans to continue a strong relationship with the US defense industry and knows that it has made the right choices, it would appreciate a "gesture" from the US so that it can show domestic audiences that Spain gets something out of the relationship. He said that he would raise in Washington the Spanish bid for the Joint Cargo Aircraft program and the XTAR satellite program as areas for a possible gesture. ¶5. (C) COMMENT. Pardo raised the old canard that, after pressuring MOD to buy the XTAR satellite from Loral, DOD has ignored its "promise" to purchase capabilities from the XTAR satellite. Emboff gently reminded Pardo that the US never made any promises, that there has been ongoing communication between the Pentagon and MOD on the issue, that DOD has no unfilled X-band requirements at the moment, and that a working group continues to explore other areas of SATCOM cooperation. DCM also noted that while there may be a dollar imbalance in the defense relationship, Spain benefits in other ways, not only getting the best technology for its military, but also being able to sell its products to third countries (e.g., selling F-100 frigates that include US technology to Norway). END COMMENT. Aguirre